The Government Just Uncovered Whole Foods' Dirty Secret

The Food and Drug Administration has levied some pretty awful claims about the sanitary conditions at Whole Foods. The government organization inspected a facility that prepares food for 74 stores across the Northeast, and issued a warning letter about what they found to Whole Foods CEOs John Mackey and Walter Robb.

Back in February, FDA officials inspected one of its food manufacturing facilities, Whole Foods Market North Atlantic Kitchen, located in Massachusetts, and found "serious violations" of standard food packaging and preparing practices. "[Items] were prepared, packaged, or held under insanitary conditions whereby they may have been contaminated with filth or rendered injurious to health," the letter reads.

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The allegations are pretty gross. According to the letter, they found workers mixing, chopping, transporting, and storing ready-to-eat foods under a ceiling that was dripping "condensate." They also found workers letting water from a hand-washing station splash onto vegetables, utensils, and food containers. Employees were also caught switching tasks without washing their hands, and spraying ammonium-based sanitizer—and dragging unsanitized sleeves—onto leafy greens.

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And that's not all. Inspectors found indicators of possible Listeria contamination, or at least an environment that would foster it, on a vegetable chopping machine that has direct contact with food. Plus, one of the hand-washing sinks did not have hot water on a day of inspection, but workers still used it while preparing food.

According to the New York Post, Whole Foods told the FDA what they did to address these issues, but they apparently weren't enough because the chain didn't provide proof. Whole Foods executives say they did not see this warning letter coming. "We've been in close contact with the FDA, opened our doors to inspectors regularly since February and worked with them to address every issue brought to our attention," Ken Meyer, the company's executive vice president of operations, said in a statement. Whole Foods says the company has already corrected all the issues in the FDA's letter; the FDA says the company has to address their claims by the end of June.